Maryland Madness to be Held at Cole Field House

Maryland Athletics

9-24-2013

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland men’s and women’s basketball teams will return to historic Cole Field House for Maryland Madness Friday, October 18. Doors will be open at 5:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets will be available to students and Terrapin Club donors on Monday, September 30 at 8:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Cole Field House was home to Maryland basketball for nearly half a century from 1955-2002. The men’s and women’s basketball teams garnered a 774-246 (.759) cumulative record at Cole Field House.

"Cole Field House represented many of the most iconic and memorable moments in Maryland basketball program history," head coach Mark Turgeon said. "Cole was host to multiple hall of fame coaches and countless All-Americans that helped make Maryland basketball what it is today. It will be a special evening for our fans, students, alumni and our university as we reconnect with the historic past of Cole Field House and Maryland basketball.”

The Maryland men’s basketball team opened Cole Field House with a resounding 67-55 victory over Virginia on December 2, 1955, and closed the gym in similar fashion with a resounding 112-92 emotional victory over the Cavaliers on March 3, 2002.

"It's a great chance for this generation to get a glimpse of what Maryland basketball was like and to honor our history,” said women’s basketball head coach Brenda Frese. “As we celebrate our theme of, ‘Proud Past, Fearless Future,’ this is really a culmination of that with our fans, students and the players. At the same time, we'll be celebrating our future. So when you can do all that at the same time, that's really special.”

At the time of its closing in 2002, Cole owned the distinction of having hosted more upsets of number one ranked teams than any building in the country. Duke became the seventh and final top-ranked team to fall in the arena on February 27, 2002, propelling the Terrapin men to their first national title.

A total of 16 Terrapin All-Americans (men and women) played at Cole, including Associated Press First Team selections John Lucas (1976), Albert King (1980), Jasmina Perazic (1983), Len Bias (1986), Vicky Bullett (1989), Joe Smith (1995) and Juan Dixon (2002).

Beginning in 1971, Cole was home to storied years for the women’s basketball program, as it housed the first-ever televised women’s basketball game in 1975, in addition to a sell-out crowd of 14,500 in 1992 which set a then-Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball attendance record.

The nation’s only on-campus arena to host multiple Final Fours, Cole hosted numerous NCAA tournaments for basketball, volleyball and wrestling. In addition to hosting U.S. President and Elvis Presley, it also hosted a U.S. vs. China ping-pong match in 1972 before a capacity crowd in what was the first sporting event held between the two nations.

On September 30 at 8:30 a.m., students can go online to umterps.com/student to reserve seats, while Terrapin Club members can reserve tickets online at umterps.com or call 1-800-462-TERP. Should any tickets remain, men’s and women’s basketball season ticket holders who are not Terrapin Club donors can reserve seats online or by calling 1-800-462-TERP on Oct. 3 beginning at 8:30 a.m.